ELECTROMEDA v2.0 - audio_reviews_Up, Bustle & Out

UP, BUSTLE AND OUT – Urban Evacuation

Originally hailing from the UK city of Bristol, which brought the likes of Massive Attack, Tricky and Portishead to our attention. The duo Up, Bustle and Out have been active on the UK electronica scene for a good few years now, adding their own particular spice to the landscape. Usually releasing their stuff on Ninja Tune, this is the first album of theirs to get an airing on the German Unique imprint. The duo’s sixth album, “Urban Evacuation” is indeed a slight change in sound, moving away from the hip hop beats commonly used on Ninja and giving this LP a dub injection.

Producers Rupert Mould and D. ‘Ein’ Fell have always drawn on a wide range of influences, from Latin American and Spanish beats to reggae to jazz, even the odd bit of Middle Eastern blend thrown into a very active pot. This time out you really notice the dub anchoring all of this exploration. These diverse sounds merge well with their fat beats and make for an interestingly chilled listen. There’s also a guest spot from Nitin Sawhney, some old-fashioned deejaying from Jamaican DJ ‘Mexican’, vocals from Black Roots and some original poetry even makes an appearance.

Opening by way of electro beats and piano with the tight flow of ‘Mexican’ over the top, “Urban Evacuation” is fresh right through. Bringing Latin style guitar, dub reggae and jazzy influences to bear upon chilled beatz. I particularly dig the up beat reggae vibe and sweet lyrical flow on ‘Trago Bula’, which becomes an uplifting, infectious little tune. The Middle Eastern/dub tinge of ‘Tabla Talkin Dub’ works really well and ‘Guitar Soldiering’ is a good example that dub and flamenco guitar can mix! ‘Hooded Hordes’ borrows heavily from ‘Ghost Town’ by 2-Tone legends The Specials – in lyrics and music, with trumpet (Andy Hague) and flamenco guitar (Cuffy ‘El Gaupo’) atmospherics, Black Roots turns it into a ‘Wasteland’ and manages to get a bit of T. S. Eliot in there too. Check also the extended dub work out of the same tune. There’s nice cowboy western influenced flamingo outro too. Overall, the album is rich in dub/ska overtones throughout; classic effects are employed alongside the less usual Latin/Middle Eastern rhythms resulting in a consistently bright sound. This album took me a few listens to get into, but on each listening the detail and loving care in the production becomes more and more apparent.

On this offering Up, Bustle and Out have further improved the range of their sound. Adding a ska/2-tone element and the classic Lee Perry and King Tubby dub production techniques to their usual template, “Urban Evacuation” is a definite evolution of the Up, Bustle and Out sound. Check it.

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